Steph Cooke will attend her first party room meeting in Sydney on Tuesday, after winning a weekend by-election in the seat of Cootamundra.
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The by-election was called after the resignation of former MP Katrina Hodgkinson, who held the seat for the Nationals for 18 years.
The Nationals have also fended off a strong challenge from the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers to retain the seat of Murray, which had been held by former Minister for Education, Adrian Piccoli.
The Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party’s Helen Dalton lost out to the Nationals’ Austin Evans, with 31 per cent of first preference votes to Mr Evans’s 39 per cent.
On a two-party preferred basis, Mr Evans beat Mrs Dalton 53 per cent to 47 per cent.
In the seat of Cootamundra, there was a swing against the Nationals of about 10 per cent, but Ms Cooke retained the seat comfortably, with about 62 per cent of the primary vote against Labor’s Charlie Sheahan on a two-party preferred basis.
“By-elections are always tough. But I am extremely happy with the result,” she said.
Ms Cooke said she is now looking forward to meeting with her party room colleagues and talking to government ministers on how to work through the promises made during the election campaign.
“I have had a lot of constructive conversations with the community and with local government during the campaign and I am now looking forward to working very hard,” she said.
“It is my intention to make sure these projects we talked about are completed.”
Ms Cooke said commitments had been made for upgrades at the Temora Hospital and the Cootamundra Country Club, along with a promise by Deputy Premier John Barilaro of $50 million to improve mobile phone and internet services, and assurances of the deployment of more front-line police.
“I am looking forward to working very hard. My diary is already filling up with community events,” she said.
“From next Monday, I will begin door-knocking the electorate.”
Despite conceding defeat in Murray, Shooters, Fishers and Farmers’ Helen Dalton is already planning another tilt at the seat in the 2019 state election.
“I’ll have a lot to say. I’ll be looking at what the Nats are doing and commenting, if I’m given the opportunity… If they don’t deliver I’ll be after them,” she said.
